On Earth Day, N.J. officials move to protect Montclair garden

The flowers are not in bloom yet, but the Presby Memorial Iris Gardens in Montclair took on a decidedly brighter hue today when Essex County officials announced a public-private partnership to rescue the historic gardens and keep them from wilting financially.

County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo chose Earth Day to announce that Essex was using a $900,000 state Green Acres grant and $200,000 in county recreation and open space funds to purchase the gardens from the nonprofit citizens committee that owned the 82-year-old botanical site on Upper Mountain Avenue and adjacent Walther House headquarters.

Robert Sciarrino/The Star-LedgerSamara Haynes and Moshe Goldsmith, from the Montclair Cooperative School, run pass the flower beds located at Montclair's Presby Memorial Iris Gardens. A rededication of gardens was held today, attended by Gov. Jon Corzine and Essex Exec Joe DiVincenzo. In 2005 the garden's were destroyed by vandals. (Note: Due the cold weather the flowers have nor blossomed yet.)

The citizens committee will, in turn, lease the gardens from the county for $1 and use proceeds of the sale to pay off debt and create an endowment to ensure the financial well-being of the nationally known gardens that attract almost 10,000 visitors a year.

The gardens, which have an annual operating budget of $150,000, have been running at a deficit, and the caretaker group's endowment suffered in the economic downturn that began last year.

"The Presby itself, which was a nonprofit board, was in financial trouble," DiVincenzo said. "They were in a dilemma where they possibly could have lost this. To operate and maintain the building and be able to take care of the Presby, they just couldn't afford to do it.

"Now with us buying the property and taking over responsibility for the building, all they have to worry about is the upkeep of the gardens," he said.

"We can just put our energy into creating and expanding what is truly a world-class living museum," Frances Liscio, president of the citizens committee, told about 125 guests at today's ceremony. "We recognize what a sacred trust this is, and I promise you we will not let you down.

The gardens, created in 1927 in honor of Frank Presby, a Montclair resident known for his stewardship of the American Iris Society, have more than 8,000 irises in 3,200 varieties, some dating to the 16th century. The irises will be in full bloom from about mid-May to the first week of June.

"It's a living museum in and of itself," Gov. Jon Corzine said at the ceremony, reiterating his administration's commitment to invest in open space.

"Protecting our earth, not just on Earth Day, but every day, is absolutely essential," he said.

"We are more than sewers and roads and lights," Corzine said. "Our community parks are beautiful public places, particularly in our urban communities. We can't all live in the Rocky Mountains. We have to have a chance to experience and have the joy of nature in other circumstances, and that is exactly what is happening here."

Blonnie Watson, president of the Essex freeholder board, praised the members of the partnership who are "dedicated to preserving this beautiful, beautiful garden."

"It will be another jewel in our treasure box of open space which we will be able to enjoy now and for many generations to come," she said. "This treasure of nature will not perish."

Montclair Mayor Jerry Freid also expressed his gratitude for the county's acquisition of the gardens. The township owns the land at the foot of Mountainside Park on which the gardens are located, but is selling the three-acre parcel to the county for $1 as part of the new partnership.

"This is a gift that we've been given really from past generations, and I just want to express our appreciation for being given the means to keep this going for future generations," Freid said.

Four summers ago, the gardens were severely damaged when two Montclair men on a drunken rampage took golf clubs to the prized flower beds, ravaging more than 150 of the rhizomes. Rhizomes dating back centuries were separated from the metal name tags crucial to identifying their lineage.

Most of the rhizomes were replanted and survived, while the two men received suspended jail sentences, were fined and ordered to pay $17,000 in restitution.